Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Care for a Taste of Dubya's Utopia? ???

Got a heads-up on this while listening to Thom Hartman. The actual text was placed on Craig's List. By whom, I have no idea. As you read it, I would ask you to keep in mind the Reagan Refuckyoucan mantra: Government cannot solve problems; Government IS the problem. and mantra 2: The nine most fearsome words in the English language are: I'm from the Government and I'm here to help.

Joe Conservative wakes up in the morning and goes to the bathroom. He flushes his toilet and brushes his teeth, mindful that each flush & brush costs him about 43 cents to his privatized water provider. His wacky, liberal neighbor keeps badgering the company to disclose how clean and safe their water is, but no one ever finds out. Just to be safe, Joe Conservative boils his drinking water.

Joe steps outside and coughs--the pollution is especially bad today, but the smokiest cars are the cheapest ones, so everyone buys 'em. Joe Conservative checks to make sure he has enough toll money for the 3 different private roads he must drive to work. There is no public transportation, so traffic is backed up and his 10 mile commute takes an hour.

On the way, he drops his 12 year old daughter off at the clothing factory she works at. Paying for kids to go to private school until they're 18 is a luxury, and Joe needs the extra income coming in. Times are hard and there're no social safety nets.

He gets to work 5 minutes late and misses the call for Christian prayer, and is immediately docked by his employer. He is not feeling well today, but has no health insurance, since neither his employer nor his government provide it, and paying for it himself is really expensive, since he has a precondition. He just hopes for the best.

Joe's workday is 12 hours long, because there is no regulation over working hours, and Joe will lose his job if he complains or unionizes. Today is an especially bad day. Joe's manager demands that he work until midnight, a 16 hour day. Joe does, knowing that he'll lose his job if he does not.

Finally, after midnight, Joe gets to pick up his daughter and go home. His daughter shows him the deep cut she got on the industrial sewing machine today. Joe is outraged and asks why she doesn't have metal mesh gloves or other protection. She says the company will not provide it and she'll have to pay for it out of her own pocket. Joe looks at the wound and decides they'll use an over the counter disinfectant and bandages until it heals. She'll have a scar, but getting stitches at the emergency room is expensive.

His daughter also complains that the manager made suggestive overtures towards her. Joe counsels her to be a "good girl" and not rock the boat, or she'll get fired and they'll be out the income.

His daughter says she can't wait until she's 18 so she can vote for change or go to the Iraq War.

They get home and there's a message from his elderly father who can't afford to pay his medical or heating bills. Joe can hear him coughing and shivering.

Joe turns on the radio and the top story is a proposal in Congress to raise the voting age to 25. A rare liberal opinionator states that it's an attempt to keep power out of the hands of working class Americans. The conservative host immediately quashes him, calling him "a Utopian idealist," and agreeing that people aren't mature enough to make good choices until they're at least 25.

Joe chuckles at the wine-swilling, cheese eating liberal egghead and thinks, "Thank God I live in America where I have freedom!"

Had a good laugh? Well you can stop, because whoever wrote that, has given an almost perfect description of the Refuckyoucan vision for this country. In Dubyaland, there will be no public services. Police, fire, utilities, schools, will ALL be run by private companies. Shit, I remember the days when a "free compulsory education," was indeed free. I never paid for paper, pencils, pens; never had to raise money for uniforms or travel when I played HS sports. Health insurance that covered me while on school property or activities cost $2.00 for the FUCKING YEAR!!! And for $10 I had insurance 24/7. I think by my senior year (1974) the prices had gone up to $5 and $20.

As I was reading this I thought that it seems a little exaggerated. Then I realize that what is being described is exactly the way of life in third world countries who've implemented total free market policies the way the Bush Administration is trying to do here.

I Confess:

I'm tempted to resurrect this blog, but I'm well aware of my own laziness and lack of ability to follow though on things. BUT... Weak or strong, loud or faint, can there really be too many voices against the wave of fascism that has given rise to Trump as president?